


A Scrap of Paradise

by rosefox



Category: Jewish Scripture & Legend, תלמוד | Talmud
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-28 23:23:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14460081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosefox/pseuds/rosefox
Summary: A poor man gets a surprising gift from a prophet.





	A Scrap of Paradise

Rabba bar Avuha, a poor man whose only possession was a threadbare robe, left the city of Babylon one day and wandered into a gentile cemetery. To his astonishment, the prophet Eliyahu stood there.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity for learning, he asked the prophet to clarify some points of Talmudic law. Finally, he burst out, "How is it that you are standing in a cemetery? You are a priest, and priests cannot go among the dead."

Eliyahu raised an eyebrow. "But non-Jewish dead do not defile me. Haven't you studied the laws of purity?"

Rabba bar Avuha shuffled his feet, embarrassed. "I can't even manage to get through the fourth Order of the Talmud, let alone get all the way to the sixth."

"Oh? And why not?"

"I'm too poor," Rabba bar Avuha confessed. "I can't afford books, or a teacher, and can only study now and again when I'm not trying to scrape out a living."

Eliyahu raised his arm and a golden gateway appeared. He drew Rabba bar Avuha through the gateway and into a peaceful garden that could only be Paradise. 

Rabba bar Avuha stared all around him. The air was still and warm, scented by enormous, brightly colored flowers. He stood on a dirt path, and the rich loam crumbled soft and warm between his bare toes. Birds sang in the trees and worms wriggled in the soil. Light came from everywhere and nowhere; the trees towering overhead didn't seem to shade him, yet he could not see the sun. He trembled from the strangeness of it.

"Gather fallen leaves in your robe and take them with you," Eliyahu said. "You can sell them for all the money you need."

This snapped Rabba bar Avuha out of his daze. He knew that even one leaf from paradise would be greatly prized in Babylon's markets. Eagerly, he whipped off his robe, folded it into a pouch, and began to wander the garden, naked, gathering leaves. He didn't want to take too many and abuse the prophet's generosity, but it also seemed imprudent to only take one or two when he'd been told he could fill his robe.

As he returned to the gateway, he heard a Voice say, "Who would do what Rabba bar Avuha has done, and shortchange himself in the world to come so that he may be wealthy in the mortal realm?"

Rabba bar Avuha was terrified and ashamed. His mortal years were short; his time in paradise would last forever. What a foolish thing he had almost done! He scattered the leaves and fled through the gateway. It vanished behind him, leaving him standing in a cemetery, his skin prickling in the breeze, clutching the robe that was still all he had to his name.

Overcome by his strange experiences, he burst into tears. 

He raised a corner of the robe to wipe his face—and was astonished, for it still bore the glorious scent of paradise, which had rubbed off from the leaves. He hastily lowered it and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand instead. Carefully cradling the precious robe, he went off to his son-in-law's house and begged the loan of another garment. When asked for an explanation, he gave everyone in the household a sniff of his old robe. They were floored by its intoxicating, otherworldly smell, and found it surprisingly easy to believe that Rabba bar Avuha really had met the prophet Eliyahu and set foot, however briefly, in God's realm.

He brought his old robe to the market. Everyone who came within smelling distance was enthralled, and he was able to stoke a bidding war and sell the robe for 12,000 dinars—enough to enrich all his sons-in-law and still keep himself in comfort, diligently studying Torah and Talmud, for the rest of his mortal days.

**Author's Note:**

> A retelling of the story in the Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Baba Mezi'a (114a-b).


End file.
